


a comforting weight

by kindlystrawberry



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff without Plot, Humor, Man Tiddy, Nightmares, Potential Claustrophobia, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:21:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24749032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kindlystrawberry/pseuds/kindlystrawberry
Summary: That’s when she realizes two things:First, the warmth around her isn’t oppressive, or suffocating, the way it had been in her dream, but is instead calming. It’s a solid, present feeling, encompassing her.Second, it was actually slightly crushing her.
Relationships: Reyn/Sharla (Xenoblade Chronicles)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 33





	a comforting weight

She’s not exactly sure what the dream is; it all passes around Sharla like a blur, images seeping through the cracks of her fitful dream like smoke. There’s a commotion, a landslide, and then on autopilot she’s diving for Juju, shoving him out of the way. Next thing she knows there are rocks all over her, completely blotting out her vision.

The thing is— she knows this is a dream. Sort of. She can’t tell what’s exactly real and what isn’t but she knows that some of it is just an illusion. But what definitely isn’t is the _weight_ pressing down on her, concaving her chest as voices echo above her as if from a great distance, and it just keeps pushing and pushing down until—

She gasps awake with a muffled sound, but finds herself stuck in place. She tries to move her arms, but they’re pinned down by something, a mass, to the point where she can barely wiggle her fingers.

Okay. Sharla blinks purposefully, expelling the last of her sleep, and takes stock of her surroundings.

That’s when she realizes two things:

First, the warmth around her isn’t oppressive, or suffocating, the way it had been in her dream, but is instead calming. It’s a solid, present feeling, encompassing her.

Second, it was actually slightly crushing her.

She giggles slightly at the realization, and just as it had with her yawn, the big, broad shoulder of Reyn’s that’s currently pressed against her face muffles the sound. 

He’s laying almost fully on top of her, face buried deeply into the pillow above her head, and the lines of their bodies are pressed together from there— her face buried into his shoulder, his broad torso enveloping hers, and one of his arms was bracketing her side, holding her close.

Sharla shifts enough to dig her face out from under him, just enough to be able to press her lips to his jaw. She can’t help it; he’s just so sweet. 

Since she had gotten home rather late last night, having found him already asleep as she crawled under the covers next to him, that must have meant he had drifted towards her in his sleep. The thought makes her feel warm.

His arm is plush around her, soft, comforting, and honestly rather heavy.

An idea strikes her. 

Trailing her lips downward, Sharla peppers soft kisses against his neck, ghosting over his shoulder, then going back up again. She feels Reyn start to shift around her, letting out a slight noise. She keeps it up until she thinks he’s about to wake… but then he simply snores loudly, once, and plops himself even more heavily on top of her.

It’s starting to get harder to breathe. 

With an overly-fond roll of her eyes Sharla switches to plan B, just managing to pull her wrist out. She searches for the nearest fleshy bit she can find, and pinches at his side. When he doesn’t respond she does it again, harder.

Finally she can feel it when he wakes up— _actually_ wakes up— by the deep intake of breath (which actually only serves to further press her into the mattress, adding to the weight against her). There’s a slightly-bewildered shifting of him around her, and a noise that he lets out.

“Eh?— ah— wha’ was…” His voice is still slurred with sleep.

Again, she can’t help it— Sharla laughs. 

Except this time it doesn’t stop at a giggle, it just keeps on going, only getting louder each time she tries to hold it in or stop.

Reyn is fully awake now, and so close to him she can actually _feel_ his face get warm against her. 

“Wh-what? What is it?” He mutters out, half-indignant and half-sheepish, 

Finally she stops giggling enough to say, “Nothing, don’t worry. Well— other than the fact that you’re crushing me. You know that you’re rather heavy, right?”

She could _hear_ more than see the stupid grin that spreads over his lips.

“What? _Me?_ Heavy? You’re joking.”

He puts more weight on her and she lets out a half-groan, half-peal of laughter. 

“ _Reyn,_ you big oaf, get off me before my lungs implode.”

“An oaf now, am I?” 

He does ease off, just enough, and Sharla plants her hands against as much of his firm chest as she can gain purchase of. Just a moment later, though, he moves to rub his jaw against hers, and the light scruff of stubble that had grown from his not shaving over the weekend scratches against her skin. The hair is hard enough to be annoying but soft enough that it’s ticklish. 

“Reyn!” She squeals out in a fit of laughter, trying fully now to shove him off but unable to topple his weight when she has no purchase. “Y-you stop it!”

Honestly, she should have dumped him the day he found out she was ticklish.

“What? I’m sorry, what is it? I can’t really hear you, love.”

Again, she can _hear_ the cheeky, shit-eating grin on his face. She continues to laugh and laugh, writhing under him. At the moment she was too breathless to dwell on it, but later Sharla would think about how much she loves these small moments together. Reyn really does make her feel so calm, and so young, if only for a minute like this, where they’re half-wrestling like kids again, where the broad expanse of him is solid, and warm, and gentle— even as he moves to use the thick bush of auburn hair that tapers off just next to his ears to tickle that one spot under her jaw that nearly makes her kick him.

She has half a mind to.

But finally, when she is ready to stop she pushes once, just firmly enough, and she knows that Reyn understands, because of course he does. With a laugh he brings himself up onto his elbows, so he’s still above her, but now there’s no more weight at all— just his gaze, the slight tilt of his head as he looks down at her with a smile so sincere, so fond, and so slightly mischievous, that it makes her heart seize up in a way Sharla used to think it wouldn’t ever do anymore.

It was strange to feel that giddiness. Strange, but good. Comforting.

It happens in a blink of an eye, when one moment he’s grinning and the next his eyebrows are furrowed, lips frowning. She doesn’t understand why he suddenly looks concerned, partially due to the fact that she has to take a moment to focus on the ridiculously sweet way he tilts his head to the _other_ side as he changes emotions. One of his hands (warm, big, and slightly calloused, just how she likes them) cups her cheek, and his thumb rubs away at a streak of tears she hadn’t realized were there. They were too dried to be from the laughter.

“You alright?” His tone isn’t condescending, isn’t pitying— just full of concern, plain and simple.

She smiles against his palm, raising her hand to hold his and press it further against her cheek. 

“Yeah— must have happened when I was asleep. I didn’t even realize.”

“Bad dream?”

“Mmm,” she hums neutrally, pressing a kiss to his hand.

Reyn doesn’t push. Actually, she pushes, using the chance to shift her weight and finally topple him over. There’s a _humph_ as they fall back together, and she can’t tell if it’s from the mattress or the boyfriend. Regardless, they land so her head is pillowed against his chest, legs intertwined happily around his and bodies pressed together. She’s never the clingy-type in public, but when it’s just the two of them in a quiet room, Sharla lets herself indulge.

A few minutes pass in warm silence, punctuated only by the steady rise and fall of Reyn under her. 

Then he breaks it, when some noises and chattering outside make Reyn groan. He pushes his head back further into the pillows. “Do we have to get up yet?”

She fights the urge to laugh again. “We do have to meet up with everyone.”

“But do we have to do it _now?”_

Sharla glances out the window, at the sun still streaking out the last of its orange rays against an increasingly blue sky. “We could probably spare a _few_ more minutes. On one condition, though.”

“Wah’ is it?” he says, fighting off a yawn.

She plants her hands on Reyn’s chest and pushes forward again, enough to rise up and press a long, slow kiss against his lips. A beat of surprise passes before Reyn’s hands move to her waist, and he kisses back. 

When she pulls away, just an inch, that grin is back on Reyn’s face. She’s sure her eyes are full of a near-ridiculous amount of fondness and love as she looks at him, at his smile that’s bright enough to rival the sunlight currently trying to push its way through the window blinds. 

“That’s fine with me,” he says, and she rolls her eyes before leaning in to kiss him again, resting her body fully over his. 

**Author's Note:**

> I tried simply Writing something, instead of worrying too much about plot or length. And also, tried practicing that present tense. Hope you guys like it! Let me know what you think.


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